The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-03-13
TAME ON NAPOLEON.
Biographical Evolution OF the Great
French Emperor.

| ~ 'Neh htott interest tfliln
| IT'S predecessors. as it deals especially
| with the colossal character of Napoleon.
Those who recollect with what precision,
strength, and originality Taine outlines
| ms drawings of events and of personages
in previous work. might reasonably ex-
| pect that his treatment Of such fipur.
as Napoleon y could not fail to bo novel
ana forclble IN the extreme. Such
| proves Ia la the ease. Judging from ,d
vance pages printed in the Rernc des
| DeUT- hoHdies and few selections even
Ia our indifferent translation. NAV serve
10 show the general vigor and unidueness
! of NJ. Taines critique
Beginning according to his familiar
philosophical method. by tracing out
| the correspondence between character
| and the influences. hereditary or extar-
nal, which develop IL. NJ. Tame gives III
| "A rather striking sketch of Nnpol,on's
mother. - l@etitia Ramolino. who's.
! qualities. much more than those of his
| father. were reproduced and magDitied
| Ina Napoleon. She would seem Ia have
been AN uucultivat.-d. energetic. half
savage ewoman.-fearless and salf-confi-
dent to AN extraordinary degree /: daring.
even when on the point of becoming a
| mother. the har.lships of guerrilla cam
paigDings in the mountains of Corsica.
| How much OF this Corsican nature was
bequeathed 10 Napoleon. VI. Tame de
tails. point 10y point. Even his first
studies of the development of Napoleon's
character bring ont the merit Of his his
torical method i'm this respect still they
are not always calculated 10 make q
favorable impression as the following
extract will show:
"Tbe evening Of ihe lath NendcmiaiIe.
ON leaving the theatre. and observing The
preparations of the sccfionndiies. he
says la Junot: All. if he Sectionalists
would put me at their head. | would
pledge myself, | would, Ia put them in
the Tuileries in two hours time. and
drive out all those miserable Convention
alists Five hours later, ON being sum
moned by Barras and the Conventional
lists. he takes three minutes To think,
To make a decision; and instead of blow
ing up the yepresentdits. il is the Paris
lans into whom he fires grape-just like
| "A good cohdotfiere who does not give
himself away, who only lends himself Ia
the first bid.ier,-sure of being able Ia
take back what he gives at later day.
and of being able in the end. should any
occasion offer, Of taking everything"
Futher on Tame quotes the authority
Of Madame de Staei, in proof Of his own
conception al the conquerors personal
Ity; italicising certain passages Of special
force:-
Such Il being. hdring no equal. could
neither feel nor communicate sym
pathy;-- he Uds either more than a man,
or less THAI o,e. Far from gaining con
fidence 10y seeing Napoleon more fire.
quently, he intimidated me more and
more each day. felt in "A yagt. way
that no emotion of the heart could ct
upon him. lie regards a human being
as a fact or ds a thing not as n JeliOU
creature He does not hate any more
than he does not loye---for him there is
only Himself;--all other creatures are
ciphers. The force of his will lies in the
imPerturbable calculation of his eegotism;
he is "A skillful player who has the
human race for his adversary, and pro-
poses to checkmate that adversary"
Madame de Steal may not, however.
i'm her moral dislike of Napoleon. have
fully appreciated the power of that great
will which she thus deemed to have been
based upon egotism. The latter might
have been the result rather than the
cause Of the mans power-the conse-
quence of the self-perception of force.
Tame gives an admirable anecdote IL
Illustrating Napoleon's capacity Ia subject
other wills TO his own:--
....'A few days later, at AllDanZa. the
division generals, including Augereau IA
sort of heroic and vulgar veteran proud
Of his own stature and his own valorJ
assemble at headquarters, very unfayor-
ably disposed toward the little pd,r'enu
who had been sent To them from Paris.
On the strength of the accounts given of
him, Augereau becomes abusive and mu-
tinolIs in adNance:-'one of Barras pets
the Nendemiaire-g -gencral-thc stree
general-never did anything-no friends
supposed to be bearish because he is
always by himself, thinking, putting on
little airs-reputed to be mathemati-
clan and "A dreamer The generals are
introduced and Napoleon keeps Them
waiting for him. AT last he makes his
appearance, buckles on his sword, puts
| on his hat. explains his purposes, gives
them his orders, and dismisses them.
Augereau has remained dumb the whole
time: il is only when he gets outside
again that he RECEIVERS himself and gets
to swearing as usual. lie agrees with
Massena tina, that petit bOr,gre of a gen
cral made him afraid He cannot under
stand that power Of mastery 10y which
he felt himself crushed al the very first
glance"
But as the historian expands his theme.
the possible suspicion that he might have
written from a biased standpoint van
ishes away-no biographer Of Napoleon
has ever done loftier justice To his intel
Iigence. or comprehended the immense
range of his genius IN a larger way than
the author of the following paragraph:
mind. perpetually--each atlas compris-
ing some twenty huge separate volumes,
continually open"
Now, in 1903. thickened as the three
aliases have been, they are perfectly i'm
printed upon the mind Of Napoleon; he
knows not only what they contain as
wholes. but also the summaries pf ther
contents. and all their least det..ls; he
reads ina them hourly at glance; he per-
ceives either as whoies or as parts the
various nations he governs directly him
self. or through a represebtati"e-that Is
to say. sixty millions Of men: also the
various countries he had conquered or
sand square leagues.
This gradual and scientific biographical
evolution of the emperor Of emperors
from the young cOadoffiere. ready 10 fire
grape into the adverssries al the first
bidder for his services. viii prove one of
the greatest triumphs of NJ. Taine's his
ported by the citing 81 illustrative and
picturesque facts: and the citations are in
| many instances new: for the historian
has been able la avail himself Of multi
tudinous documents never before used.
I The work will also perhaps afford fresh
! proof that no great and Trustworthy his
tory Of an epoch or a large incident can
be written during the period treated of +;
| il IL the work of successive generations
simply to gather material for the perfect
historian la sift and assimi!ste.
| 10 HAD No Chance.
| Young man twhispering to Jewelert-
I I IL II as.ra